Wilshire Center

If Ronald Colman had been a painter he might have been Lorser Feitelson. A scholarly Southerner of aristocratic bearing, Feitelson conducted genteel inquiries into all the major “isms” of the modern era, bringing a classical sense of balance and control to the lurid wooziness of Surrealism, the abrupt fragmentation of Cubism and the clinical severity of hard-edge abstraction.

A highly respected teacher who spent the bulk of his creative life in Southern California, Feitelson is primarily known for the crisp hard-edge paintings he began turning out in the ‘50s and referred to as “Magical Space Forms”; a current mini-retrospective reveals the years of experimentation and study that went into his trademark style.

The show illustrates how Feitelson’s love of Renaissance composition and line carried through everything he did, from early figure studies dating back to 1919 through the final works of 1977, the year before his death. There’s a great diversity of styles on view in this informative little show, which illustrates its lesson with elegance and economy. Common to all Feitelson’s work is the gracefulness and clarity of thought we’ve come to associate with Renaissance art; there’s never an ounce of fat on his canvases, nor does his work shout for attention. Even hard-edge abstractions rendered in densely saturated primary colors feel muted and well mannered. Rigorously intellectual, Feitelson challenged himself throughout his career, yet his work is wholly lacking in aggression; this selection in particular is a model of rhythm and harmony. (Tobey C. Moss Gallery. 7321 Beverly Blvd., to Dec. 31.)